Gold Coin Cache Discovered during renovation work at Jambukeswarar Temple in India
A pot full of gold coins found in Tamilnadu’s Jambukeswarara Temple
In Thiruvanaikovil, Tamil Nadu, the Jambukeswarar temple struck gold when 505 gold coins in the sealed vessel were discovered during digging.
The coins, according to officials, were in a sealed jar, which the workers found in the Akhilandeshwari shrine.
When the officials of the temple opened, 505 gold coins were found. To order to grasp their era and history, the coins will still be studied by the archeologists. The pot has been located almost 7 feet tall, according to sources.
The pot was found by workers engaged in renovation work near the Akhilandeswari shrine in the temple complex. The temple is believed to have been constructed in the early Chola period, almost 1800 years ago.
A numismatist from the city who possesses two similar coins said those found in the temple were minted by the East India Company in the late 16th century.
On Wednesday, during clean-up work at the Arulmigu Akilandeswari Samedha Jambukeswarar temple, a closed vessel was found on an empty plot near Thayar Sanathi.
It contained 505 ancient gold coins weighing 1.716 kg. There were 504 similar coins weighing more than 3 gm and a large one weighing over 10 gm.
Following the discovery, all the coins have been kept in the government treasury in the district.
Tamil Nadu: 505 gold coins weighing 1.716 kg found in a vessel during digging at Jambukeswarar Temple in Thiruvanaikaval, Tiruchirappalli district yesterday. Coins were later handed over to the police
A Manoaharan, numismatist and former Railways employee from Tiruchy, told TNIE the coins date back to 1691 and minted by the East India Company.
He said, “The coin was called Pagoda’ (‘Varagan’ in Tamil). In the period, East India Company minted two types of coins, namely the single-deity Pagoda (Oru Swamy Pagoda) and triple-deity Pagoda (Moonu Swamy Pagoda). Though other coins were there for use, the Pagoda coins were specially minted for gifting purposes.”
Single-deity Pagoda would have Tirupati Balaji on one side and granules (rough surface) on the flip side. Triple-deity Pagoda would have Tirupati Balaji along with Sridevi and Bhoodevi and granules on the other side.
He added the coins found in Jambukeswarar temple must have been hidden by people back in the 16th century. He said the single 10-gm coin could be from the Arcot Nawab.
He said these coins are extremely rare and their value would be five times the current gold price for each coin.
He requested the government to preserve the coins by keeping them in a museum considering their history.
298 Million Year Old Forest Found Beneath Coal Mine in China
A tropical forest 300 millions of years old, has been preserved in ash when a volcano exploded in the north of China today.
The reconstruction of this fossilized forest is presented through a new study by Hermann Pfefferkorn, a paleobotanist from the University of Pennsylvania, which lending insight into the ecology and climate of its time.
Pfefferkorn, a professor in Penn’s Department of Earth and Environmental Science, collaborated on the work with three Chinese colleagues: Jun Wang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yi Zhang of Shenyang Normal University and Zhuo Feng of Yunnan University.
Their paper was published this week in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study site, located near Wuda, China, is unique as it gives a snapshot of a moment in time. Because volcanic ash covered a large expanse of forest in the course of only a few days, the plants were preserved as they fell, in many cases in the exact locations where they grew.
“It’s marvelously preserved,” Pfefferkorn said. “We can stand there and find a branch with the leaves attached, and then we find the next branch and the next branch and the next branch. And then we find the stump from the same tree. That’s really exciting.”
The researchers also found some smaller trees with leaves, branches, trunk, and cones intact, preserved in their entirety.
Due to nearby coal-mining activities unearthing large tracts of rock, the size of the researchers’ study plots is also unusual. They were able to examine a total of 1,000 m2 of the ash layer in three different sites located near one another, an area considered large enough to meaningfully characterize the local paleoecology.
The fact that the coal beds exist is a legacy of the ancient forests, which were peat-depositing tropical forests. The peat beds, pressurized over time, transformed into the coal deposits.
The scientists were able to date the ash layer to approximately 298 million years ago. That falls at the beginning of a geologic period called the Permian, during which Earth’s continental plates were still moving toward each other to form the supercontinent Pangea. North America and Europe were fused together, and China existed as two smaller continents. All overlapped the equator and thus had tropical climates.
At that time, Earth’s climate was comparable to what it is today, making it of interest to researchers like Pfefferkorn who look at ancient climate patterns to help understand contemporary climate variations.
In each of the three study sites, Pfefferkorn and collaborators counted and mapped the fossilized plants they encountered. In all, they identified six groups of trees. Tree ferns formed a lower canopy while much taller trees — Sigillaria and Cordaites — soared to 80 feet above the ground. The researchers also found nearly complete specimens of a group of trees called Noeggerathiales. These extinct spore-bearing trees, relatives of ferns, had been identified from sites in North America and Europe but appeared to be much more common in these Asian sites.
They also observed that the three sites were somewhat different from one another in plant composition. In one site, for example, Noeggerathiales were fairly uncommon, while they made up the dominant plant type in another site. The researchers worked with painter Ren Yugao to depict accurate reconstructions of all three sites.
“This is now the baseline,” Pfefferkorn said. “Any other finds, which are normally much less complete, have to be evaluated based on what we determined here.”
The findings are indeed “firsts” on many counts.
“This is the first such forest reconstruction in Asia for any time interval, it’s the first of a peat forest for this time interval and it’s the first with Noeggerathiales as a dominant group,” Pfefferkorn said.
Because the site captures just one moment in Earth’s history, Pfefferkorn noted that it alone cannot explain how climate changes affected life on Earth. But it helps provide valuable context.
“It’s like Pompeii: Pompeii gives us deep insight into Roman culture, but it doesn’t say anything about Roman history in and of itself,” Pfefferkorn said. “But on the other hand, it elucidates the time before and the time after. This finding is similar. It’s a time capsule and therefore it allows us now to interpret what happened before or after much better.”
The study was supported by the Chinese Academy of Science, the National Basic Research Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the University of Pennsylvania.
By gum! Scientists find new 110-million-year-old treasure
During the analysis, scientists from the University of Portsmouth, examining fossilized leaves of the Welwitschiophyllum plant found in the Crato Formation in Brazil, have discovered a remarkable new treasure- the first fossil plant gum on record- ‘Welwitschiophyllum.’
Researchers have noticed that thin amber-colored bands locked inside some of the fossilized leaves. The beautiful, amber-like material has been discovered in 110 million-year-old fossilized leaves.
Unlike amber, which is made from fossilized plant resin, this newly discovered material is made from fossilized plant gum.
The fossilized leaves belonging to the Welwitschiophyllum plant.
A wide variety of vascular plants produce fluid exudates e.g., resins and gums, with each group differing in chemical definitions.
Due to similarity in physical appearance, distinguishing exudates based on chemistry is vital; for example, gums and resins are visually similar, resulting in these terms being used interchangeably.
The study was conducted in collaboration between the University of Portsmouth, the University of Vienna (with amber expert Dr. Leyla Seyfullah), and the British Library (with FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) specialist Dr. Paul Garside).
University of Portsmouth Ph.D. student Emily Roberts said, “This discovery overturns the basic assumption that plant gums cannot be preserved in the fossil record. It has opened our eyes to the fact that other plant chemicals may also be preserved—we can no longer make assumptions.
When we first tested the gum, I was astonished that we were confirming something that was thought to be impossible—it just goes to show that fossil plants can surprise us.”
According to the study, the Welwitschiophyllum plant is considered to be related to one of the oldest and most enigmatic plants in existence.
Remarkably, a considered relative of this plant is still growing today, Welwitschia is the sole survivor of this lineage and is now found only in the Namib Desert in Namibia and Southern Angola.
The fossil gum in a thin section of the fossilized leaf.
Co-author Professor David Martill, of the School of the Environmental Geography and Geosciences at the University of Portsmouth, said: “Emily has not only discovered something ground-breaking about plant gum but perhaps, even more, astonishing her findings confirm that the Welwitschia plant found in Africa today produces a gum similar to a plant growing 110 million years ago in Brazil.
Welwitschia is one of life’s survivors, thriving in one of the harshest environments on earth for over 120 million years.
This discovery is fascinating, especially when put into the context of these two continents of Africa and South America, being one during the Cretaceous period.”
Scientists suggest there is still much to be learned and that future work should focus on how this preserved gum has survived 110 million years.
A stunning 14th-century medieval chapel is uncovered in County Durham, England
Archaeologists have really found considered one of medieval Britain’s most vital architectural works of arts– the long-lost church of north England’s only medieval leaders– the Prince-Bishops of Durham.
The team spent five months carefully unearthing the foundations of the chapel — including part of the floor, the buttresses along the sides of the chapel and walls that measured 4.9 feet (1.5 m) thick by 39 feet (12 m) wide and 131 feet (40 m) long
The precise space of the large 40- meter lengthy baronial church was unidentified for tons of years. Now archaeologists from Durham College in addition to a neighborhood historic activity have really found the church’s long-lost stays.
A lot, they’ve really found ultra-fine stonework from the church wall surfaces, a fragile rock rising from the ceiling, items of rock columns, beautiful discolored glass in addition to the church’s distinct black plaster flooring.
Experts believe that the grand scale and decorations of the chapel would have served as a statement to the status of the bishop-prince — who held the power to raise armies, mint coinage and even rule in place of the king, Edward I. Pictured, archaeologists John Castling (left) and Jamie Armstrong (right) with an intricately carved ceiling boss from the chapel
Pictured, researchers found the base stone for a buttress cracked in two — damage possibly caused during the demolition of the chapel Beneath the stone, what is thought to be a charge hole for gunpowder can be seen
The locates have really allowed them to recreate an image of what the fantastic church will surely have resembled within the later middle ages The archaeologists have really likewise uncovered part of the enamel in addition to copper sacred dish utilized to carry the communion bread all through options held there by the Prince-Bishops within the 14th century.
They’ve really likewise found an image of a stooping monk– regarded as north-east England’s hottest medieval non-secular chief, St Cuthbert (whose vital temple continues to be in Durham Cathedral). It is without doubt one of the extraordinarily couple of medieval photographs of him ever earlier than found.
Larger than the Royal Chapel at Westminster (St Stephen’s in parliament) in addition to virtually as massive as St George’s Chapel, Windsor, it was developed by the Bishop in addition to Earl Palatine of Durham as part of his main out-of- group baronial citadel within the late 13th century.
So efficient was its contractor, Prince-Bishop Bek, that considered one of his distinguished authorities flaunted that there have been 2 majesties in England– the King in addition to the prince-bishop.
However in the end, three in addition to a fifty % centuries in a while, the fantastic baronial church, at Auckland Fortress, County Durham, was deliberately ruined with massive quantities of gunpowder by yet another megalomaniac– a callous anti-royalist that hungered for outright energy, detested the well-known church in addition to despised all diocesans.
Part of Auckland Castle, the remains of the long lost place of worship — Bek’s Chapel — were uncovered with the help of staff and students from Durham University. Pictured, the location of the dig site at Auckland Castle, before excavations took place
The ultra-intolerant extremist was Sir Arthur Hesilrige, an aged legislator military chief that was one of many arch-republicans that, in 1649, approved King Charles I’s fatality warrant.
The church in addition to the citadel it developed part of had really remained in pro-royalist arms– in addition to had really been confiscated by parliament in addition to marketed to Hesilrige, the simplest republican politician in north-east England, known as, of a scriptural dangerous man, the “Nimrod of the North” by his challengers.
As an extreme Puritan, he despised the Church of England– in addition to maltreated its clergy, on one celebration kicking out a vicar in addition to his family from their home within the middle of the night, tossing their private belongings proper into the neighborhood graveyard.
Certainly, considered one of Civil Struggle England’s main left-wing democrats, John Lilburne, chief of the ultra-egalitarian Levellers, charged him of“traitorously subverting the elemental liberties of England and exercising an arbitrary and tyrannical authority over and above the regulation”
Hesilrige’s conduct– together with his procurement in addition to the purposeful injury of the church– is politically vital in English background since, along with comparable habits by varied different main Cromwellians, it aided fatally problem the rationale of republicanism in addition to therefore aided in its failure in addition to the restore of the monarchy.
Stained glass from the long-lost baronial church. This piece reveals a pelican pecking her very personal bust– a typical Christian signal standing for Christ’s self-sacrifice. (Durham College utilized with authorization of the Auckland Venture). The exploration of the church is of appreciable worth by way of the background of north England
“For hundreds of years it has been one of many nice misplaced buildings of medieval England,” said one of many essential archaeologists related to the excavation, John Castling, archaeology in addition to social background supervisor on the Auckland Venture, which has the citadel.
“Our excavation of this big chapel has shed extra mild on the immense energy and wealth of the Prince-Bishops of Durham – and has helped bolster Auckland Fortress’s fame as a fortress of nice significance within the historical past of England.”
A number of the brand-new explorations will definitely be positioned on present and inform at Auckland Fortress from the very early the following month.
The church was uncovered making use of superior distant noticing gadgets– consisting of ground-penetrating radar in addition to magnetometers– in addition to was moneyed by way of the custom of the late Mick Aston, the favored TELEVISION excavator in addition to the speaker of the Channel four historic assortment, TimeTeam
Referring to the excavation of the church, Durham College excavator, Chris Gerrard said: “That is archaeology at its best.”
“Professionals, volunteers, and Durham College students working collectively as a staff, to piece collectively clues from paperwork and previous illustrations, used the very newest survey methods to resolve the thriller of the whereabouts of this big misplaced construction,” he included.
Rare Ancient Leopard Painting Discovered On Sarcophagus In Aswan, Egypt
The first photos from a necropolis discovered a year ago in Egypt, including that of a colourful mask of the Leopard, drawn on a wooden deck of a sarcophagus, a form of “guarding” of the dead, was published by archaeologists with the Egyptian-Italian Mission in West Aswan, EIMAWA.
The discovery of the ancient leopard painting thrilled archaeologists.
The project, led by the Milan State University’s Egyptologist Patrizia Piacentini, uncovered the necropolis five metres under the desert sand in Aswan, and in a few weeks will go back to work there.
The archaeological area extends for more than 25,000 square metres on the western bank of the Nile River, near the Mausoleum of Aga Khan III, and it hosts more than 300 tombs, some dug into the hillside and some underground.
Rare ancient painting of a leopard that guarded the deceased on the journey the afterlife.
This necropolis is where the residents of Aswan were buried between the 7th century B.C. and the 3rd century A.D.
One of the tombs, number AGH026, already made news last year when a large room was found with about 30 bodies buried between the 2nd century B.C.
The bodies were accompanied by many objects, including stuccoed body covers painted with gold, a funerary bed, parts of sarcophagi, a stretcher for the mummies, and lots of pottery vessels.
This is where the team found the painted leopard, a symbol of strength that was placed by the head of the deceased person to offer protection during the journey to the afterlife.
Piacentini told ANSA that although the leopard is a frequent symbol in Egypt, “it is very rare to find it painted”.
“The wooden support from the 2nd century B.C. was very fragile. The sand had slipped into the fibres, so we decided to detach the stucco to save the design. It was a very delicate operation that had us holding our breath, we had tears in our eyes,” she said.
The pieces will be recomposed by the expert hands of Ilaria Perticucci and Rita Reale, who, following an initial “virtual” restoration, will soon begin the actual one in the laboratories in Aswan.
“It’s an exceptional find, much like what we found in the room next to it: pine nuts dating back to the 1st century A.D., a rarity given that the plant was imported,” Piacentini said.
“The use of these seeds was known in Alexandria for the preparation of sauces and dishes,” she said.
“They were certainly a luxury good, and show once again how the tomb belonged to important people,” she said.
New information for piecing together their identities could come as soon as the upcoming spring mission, in which the multidisciplinary team of historians, paleopathologists, archaeobotanists, chemists, computer scientists, and restorers will work to uncover the diets, illnesses, and causes of death of the people buried in the necropolis. (ANSAmed).
Unknown ancient god with astral symbols discovered on a stele at the cult site in Turkey
In an ancient sanctuary in Turkey, Münster archeologists excavated a unique Roman relief depicting an unknown god.
According to a first assessment, the one and a half meter (five feet) high basalt stele which was used as a buttress in the wall of a monastery shows a fertility or vegetation god, as classical scholar and excavation director Prof. Dr. Engelbert Winter and archaeologist Dr. Michael Blömer of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” said after their return from the sacred site of the god Jupiter Dolichenus close to the ancient city of Doliche in Southeast Turkey.
“The image is remarkably well preserved. It provides valuable insights into the beliefs of the Romans and into the continued existence of ancient Near Eastern traditions. However, extensive research is necessary before we will be able to accurately identify the deity.”
In the field season 2014, the 60-strong excavation team uncovered finds from all periods of the 2,000-year history of the cult site, such as the thick enclosing wall of the first Iron Age sanctuary or the foundations of the main Roman temple of the god Jupiter Dolichenus, who became one of the most important deities of the Roman Empire in the 2nd century A.D.
His sanctuary is situated close to the town of Gaziantep on the 1,200 meters (3,900 feet) high mountain of Dülük Baba Tepesi. The archaeologists found the stele in the remains of the Christian monastery, which was erected on the site of the ancient sanctuary in the Early Middle Ages.
Bearded deity with astral symbols
Archaeologist Blömer described the depiction: “The basalt stele shows a deity growing from a chalice of leaves. Its long stem rises from a cone that is ornamented with astral symbols. From the sides of the cone grow a longhorn and a tree, which the deity clasps with his right hand.
The pictorial elements suggest that a fertility god is depicted.” There are striking iconographic details such as the composition of the beard or the posture of the arms, which point to Iron Age depictions from the early 1st millennium B.C.
Stele featuring the unknown god.
The new find, thus, provides information about a key question of the Cluster of Excellence’s research project B2-20, the question of the continuity of local religious beliefs.
According to Prof. Winter, “The stele provides information on how ancient oriental traditions survived the epochs from the Iron Age to the age of the Romans.”
This year’s excavation activities concentrated on exploring the medieval monastery of Mar Solomon (St. Solomon). “The well-preserved ruins of the monastery complex permit numerous conclusions regarding life and the culture in this region between Late Antiquity and the time of the crusaders,” according to Prof. Winter.
Until 2010, when the international team discovered the remains of the monastery, experts had known of it from written sources only.
According to the archaeologist Blömer, “All finds from this year’s excavation season are important pieces of the puzzle, contributing to the knowledge concerning every phase of the long history of this holy place.”
The history stretches from the early Iron Age and the Roman sanctuary known throughout the empire to the long utilization as a Christian monastery, which still existed at the time of the crusaders.
Preparing the excavation site for tourists
Work on an archaeological park is in progress which is to make the outstanding temple complex and the monastery ruins accessible to the public at large.
The monastery ruins were preserved and encased with special fleece material. The complex protection measures were made possible by cooperation with the Turkish Zirve University in Gaziantep, which provided about 200,000 Euros for three years.
Ruins at the site of the Christian monastery of St. Solomon.
For the digital documentation of the area, the team uses a quadrocopter, a remotely piloted vehicle with a 3-D camera, developed by the Institute for Geoinformatics of the University of Münster. A visitors’ trail signposted in three languages, which was completed in 2013, leads to central areas of the excavation site. An initial large protective shelter was erected.
Supported by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft, DFG), the University of Münster’s Asia Minor Research Centre has been conducting excavation work at the main sanctuary of Jupiter Dolichenus under the direction of Prof. Winter since 2001.
So far, the international group consisting of archaeologists, historians, architects, conservators, archaeozoologists, geoinformation scientists and excavation workers uncovered foundations of the archaic and the Roman sanctuary, as well as of the medieval monastery of Mar Solomon.
The Cluster of Excellence’s project B2-20, “Media Representation and Religious ‘Market’: Syriac Cults in the Western Imperium Romanum,” is interlinked with the excavations.
Worms Frozen for 42,000 Years in Siberian Permafrost Wriggle to Life
Sample of Permafrost sediment has been frozen for 42,000 years and has been recently thawed to expose live nematodes. the roundworms began to move and eat, setting a record for the time an animal can survive cryogenic preservation.
In addition to revealing new limits of endurance, it just might prove useful when it comes to preserving our own tissues. Russian biologists dug up more than 300 samples of frozen soil of different ages and locations throughout the Arctic and took them back to their lab in Moscow for a closer look.
The samples collected from remote parts of northeastern Russia contained nematodes from two different genera, which the researchers placed into Petri dishes with a nutrient medium.
Tiny nematodes like this one were found to be unexpectedly hardy, reviving after thousands of years frozen in Arctic ice
The worms were left for several weeks at a relatively warm 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) as they gradually showed signs of life.
Some of the worms – belonging to the genus Panagrolaimus – were found 30 metres (100 feet) underground in what had once been a ground squirrel burrow which caved in and froze over around 32,000 years ago.
Others from the genus Plectus were found in a bore sample at a depth of around 3.5 metres (about 11.5 feet). Carbon dating was used to determine that sample to be about 42,000 years old.
Contamination can’t be ruled out, but the researchers maintain they adhered to strict sterility procedures.
They aren’t known for burrowing so deep into permafrost, seasonal thawing is limited to around 80 centimetres (under 3 feet), and there’s been no hint of thawing beyond 1.5 metres (5 feet) when the area was at its warmest around 9000 years ago.
So we can be fairly confident these worms really did awaken from one incredibly long nap.
Reviving ancient organisms is itself nothing new. In 2000, scientists pulled spores from Bacillus bacteria hidden inside 250 million-year-old salt crystals and managed to return them to life.
We might be impressed by their fortitude, but we can’t apply bacteria’s life-preserving tricks to our own complicated tissues. So finding animals that can remain dormant for tens of thousands of years is a discovery well worth paying attention to.
Roundworms are known to be hardy creatures. Nematodes have been revived in 39-year-old herbarium samples, but nothing has previously been seen on a scale quite like this.
Close relatives, the tardigrade, are also well known for having a talent for surviving extreme conditions, repairing broken DNA and producing a vitrifying material when they dry out.
Even those superpowered critters have never been seen to survive so long in states of preservation, with the current tardigrade record being only around 30 years. Learning more about the biochemical mechanisms nematodes use to limit the damage of ice and hold off the ravages of oxidation on DNA over the millennia might point the way to better cryopreservation technologies.
We’ve studied other organisms that can handle having their liquids turned to ice for inspiration, such as wood frogs, in the hope of finding better ways to store human tissues for transplants, or even – just maybe – whole bodies for revival.
“It is obvious that this ability suggests that the Pleistocene nematodes have some adaptive mechanisms that may be of scientific and practical importance for the related fields of science, such as cryomedicine, cryobiology, and astrobiology,” the researchers write in their report.
But the find does have a slightly darker side. There are concerns that the melting of permafrost could release pathogens locked up in deep freeze for tens of thousands of years.
Nematodes are unlikely to pose much of a concern, but their survival is evidence that a diverse array of organisms – from bacteria to animals, plants to fungi – could potentially return after a long absence.
Exactly what this means for surrounding ecosystems is still anybody’s guess. We can only hope a few groggy worms are all we have to worry about in Siberia’s melting ice. This research was published in Doklady Biological Sciences.
12,000-Year-Old Elongated Skulls Discovered in Asia Stun Experts
A new study has found that elderly people in China had a human head shaping about 12,000 years ago — meaning they bound some children’s maturing skulls, encouraging the heads to grow into elongated ovals — making them the oldest group on record to purposefully squash their skulls, a new study finds.
The skull is known as M45, the earliest known case of head modification on record. It dates to about 12,000 years ago.
While excavating a Neolithic site (the last period of the Stone Age) at Houtaomuga, Jilin province, in northeast China, the archaeologists found 11 elongated skulls — belonging to both males and females and ranging from toddlers to adults — that showed signs of deliberate skull reshaping, also known as intentional cranial modification (ICM).
“This is the earliest discovery of signs of intentional head modification in Eurasia continent, perhaps in the world,” said study co-researcher Qian Wang, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Texas A&M University College of Dentistry.
“If this practice began in East Asia, it likely spread westward to the Middle East, Russia, and Europe through the steppes as well as eastward across the Bering land bridge to the Americas.”
The Houtaomuga site is a treasure trove, holding burials and artifacts from 12,000 to 5,000 years ago.
During an excavation there between 2011 and 2015, archaeologists found the remains of 25 individuals, 19 of which were preserved enough to be studied for ICM.
After putting these skulls in a CT scanner, which produced 3D digital images of each specimen, the researchers confirmed that 11 had indisputable signs of skull shaping, such as flattening and elongation of the frontal bone, or forehead.
The oldest ICM skull belonged to an adult male, who lived between 12,027 and 11,747 years ago, according to radiocarbon dating.
The M72 skull is between 6,300 and 5,500 years old.
Archaeologists have found reshaped human skulls all around the world, from every inhabited continent. But this particular finding, if confirmed, “will [be] the earliest evidence of the intentional head modification, which lasted for 7,000 years at the same site after its first emergence,” Wang told Foxnews.
The 11 ICM individuals died between ages 3 and 40, indicating that skull shaping began at a young age when human skulls are still malleable, Wang said.
An excavation at the site during 2010.
It’s unclear why this particular culture practiced skull modification, but it’s possible that fertility, social status, and beauty could be factors, Wang said. The people with ICM buried at Houtaomuga were likely from a privileged class, as these individuals tended to have grave goods and funeral decorations.
“Apparently, these youth were treated with a decent funeral, which might suggest a high socioeconomic class,” Wang said.
Even though the Houtaomuga man is the oldest known case of ICM in history, it’s a mystery whether other known instances of ICM spread from this group, or whether they rose independently of one another, Wang said.
“It is still too early to claim intentional cranial modification first emerged in East Asia and spread elsewhere; it may have originated independently in different places,” Wang said. More ancient DNA research and skull examinations throughout the world may shed light on this practice’s spread, he said.
